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Monday, 2 February 2015

Snow Watching & Make & Bake February

and what else do you do when it's snowing apart from stay in the warm and start on some of those jobs you keep putting off.

This weekend I decided to pull all the cookery books off the shelf give them a dusting and put them back in some sort of order.

In doing so I picked not only a make but a bake for February.

I started with baking some dinner rolls. I hadn't made any sort of bread for a number of years. I had forgotten what a work out you get from kneading bread dough. And what else do you do whilst it's proving but have a cup of tea and biscuit and sit and sew the ends in on your latest project.

One and half hours later these little rolls were the result. Now I know they aren't necessary conforming to shape and I doubt they would pass Paul Hollywood's density test but they were my little rolls and even if I do say it myself they tasted very nice.

and for my make I picked Butternut Squash soup.

So many of my colleagues come in with all sorts of soups they have made at home and I always turn up with the can of Heinz 57.

A friend of mine had made Butternut Squash soup some time ago and it was delicious and I always meant to ask her how she had made it and never got round to it. I then found this recipe in one of my books.

Ordinarily I put all my vegetables in stock and let it bubble away until ready but with this one you had to cover with a dressing of olive oil, dried oregano and garlic and cook in the oven for 1 1/2 hours first. Our oven can be a bit temperamental so I did cover it with tin foil as if any of it had got a bit crispy it would of tasted bitter in the soup.

After you have baked everything then you add it to stock and bring up to the boil for 10 mins before blending.

I was a little apprehensive as to how it would taste but I needn't of worried especially when number 3 (very picky with some foods especially if not tried before) gave it the thumbs up, so now it can be added to the list of soups in my repertoire .

Needless to say I have some in a little pot to take to the office today and there was a little bread roll left over to go with it.

Here's hoping the fluffy white stuff stays away now as lovely to look at as it is, it's no fun driving in it.

28 comments:

Butternut squash soup is one of my favourites. Which is just as well as Dad grew so many this year! :) It's nice if you roast it with some chilli oil and then make it in to soup too. I have a soup maker which is one of my best buys ever. Veg in with some stock and 20 mins later, a healthy veg soup. :) x

Now I have tried it I will definitely make it again. I've have baked it before and had as Mediterranean vegetables just not made soup. A colleague has a soup maker which she raves about I've not seen one. Will have to do some research.

Awww, Rufus is wondering why he isn't being taken for walkies. I don't get a workout when I make bread as I let my breadmaker take the strain, I always make my dough in it and then take it out to shape in to rolls and bake in the oven. The soup looks delicious, though we're not huge soup fans so it's something I seldom make. I might give this one a go though.

None of the boys like being out in it for very long. They are a bit of woos when it comes to the cold. I used to have a bread maker but when we moved to the cottage it ended up in the garage and eventually D got rid of it as he said I hadn't used it. It would of helped if I'd known that's where he had put it. Still now there is just the three of us I wouldn't use it that often and when I do make it now it will help the bingo wings. We are soup lovers but I had got in the habit if making the same ones because you know them from memory so it was nice to make something different.

D liked it although he said it was a little sweet, but I always think butternut is sweeter than a lot of the other squashes and I'm not a lover of pumpkin. It was very nice, there was enough left over to bring for lunch and it actually tasted better the second day which a lot of things do don't they. Will be finishing off for lunch today.

It definitely gave it a lot of flavor having been in the oven first. I'm not sure Rufus quite understands snow. In the second photo he's looking at me as though to say oh god she's got that camera out again.

We've just had our first lot of snow here in Dorset. It's me watching out the window, the dogs are all cuddled up nice and warm! Luckily I don't have to go anywhere today, I agree with you though it's not nice to drive or go out in!

Fantastic bread and soup making!! Not only did you have homemade soup to take to work, but a homemade roll as well - I don't suppose that anyone else had homemade bread as well!! Butternut squash and sweet potato soups are some of my favourites, so this looks scrummy!!! I imagine the tomato added a lovely flavour too. Hope you are not too snowbound! xx

There are one or two who use a bread maker but mine went to great breadmaker in the sky a couple of years ago and I haven't replaced it. I do like soup especially home made but tend to make the same one each time so now going to be a bit more adventurous with my soup making. Still getting little flurries of snow but nothing too drastic thankfully.

You have been busy. I've not made bread by hand for a long time. Maybe in winter I'll give it a go. I make a pumpkin soup with bacon that is real yummy. Pumpkin is what you call squash btw. I've way too many cookbooks, but as I'm a bookaholic, I've way too many of all sorts. Maybe I should take some phtotos of our bookcases and put them in a collage. I'll work on that. Take care.

I spotted a bacon & lentil recipe in my book so that might be one I will try. I know there is another box of books somewhere tucked away but at least now they've had a dusting off there is more of a chance they will get used, I certainly couldn't part with them, I am a little obsessed with collage making at the moment.

Definitely. We like soup but as my books have been stick at the back of a cupboard for a while I tend to stick to the one lodged in my head. It's nice to try something a little different. D is not that adventurous so I just have to make it and present it to him so he has no other choice than to try it and then he usually finds he likes it. He can be just as fickle as a number 3 sometimes but even he likes the butternut soup.

Hi Em, Yes it is Crystal Tips and Alistair. I am very similar to look at. Short, red hair (with more grey than red these days) uncontrollable curls and I have not one but four, four paws. I love your photo's they have brightened up my day today. Thank you for stopping by.

Looks like a great collection of cook books there Mitzi, we have quite a few too - sometimes I think they've been breeding on the shelf! Lovely food, feeling a bit hungry now. Have a great weekend.Jane xx

You're welcome Jo. I don't always have the time to comment on every one but I do read them all, and it works both ways you always leave a little comment on my blog too which is always appreciated. I keep being told about soup makers so I'm thinking this may be something I have to investigate further as I love soup but have fallen in the trap of tending to make the same one.

Hi Mitzi, I can relate to the collection of cook books! I go through mine with thoughts of maybe getting rid of a few but then start looking in them and change my mind. Your bread and soup look good, I make our bread and the family prefer it to store bought. I see you have window watchers too, our bears watch the path, and the ducks keep them entertained for ages. :)

I do love my cook books I just don't get the opportunity to get the best use out of them. I used to have a bread maker but it got stuck in the garage and by the time I found it, it wasn't really fit for purpose and as the big kids have now left home I didn't see the need to replace as it is now a rarity that I get to bake bread these days. I did enjoy making the rolls though and will make more. Both Buster and Rufus like looking out the window. Buster is a watcher where as Rufus suddenly thinks he's an alsation and will growl and bark at anything that passes. Although I think he was pleased he wasn't outside with the fluffy white stuff.